The Balance III
by bearhug562000
Summary: A mysterious amulet wreaks havoc in good ol’ Sunnydale. Eep.
1. Prologue

The Balance III

Rating: R

Disclaimer: I don't own the Buffy and Angel characters, but the other characters and the plot are mine.

Summary: A mysterious amulet wreaks havoc in good ol' Sunnydale. Eep.

Special Note: This takes place a week after the second story. Neil's ready to be released from the hospital.

* * *

Neil walked through the doors leading to the waiting room, relieved to be out of the hospital room. He cast a look at the clock and saw it was only seven in the morning. He looked around and noticed Faith sitting in one of the chairs, rocking it back and forth (much to the nurses' and doctors' annoyance.) She saw him and stood up and walked over to him.

"Hey Faith." Neil greeted with a smile.

"Yo, what's up? Ready to motorvate and blow this dump?"

"Let's blow it." Off the medical staff's horrified looks, he amended: "Not literally."

They left.

* * *

"So what did we get in today's shipment?" Joyce Summers asked her assistant Mark.

"Well, aside from the usual pots and paintings, we received this weird amulet." Mark replied; pulling it from the crate and showing it to her in an exaggerated fashion like one of those women from a game show might show off merchandise.

"Funny." Joyce commented, as she studied the talisman, which was round and made from gold with bizarre reddish markings on it and a large blood-red ruby in the center.

"Just file it away with everything else I suppose." Joyce said at last. Mark nodded and she exited the room. Placing it back inside the crate, Mark walked out to fetch something.

Neither Joyce nor Mark knew what would be unleashed.

* * *

As Mark got inside his car and drove off for lunch, his car began to act erratically.

"What the fuck?!" Mark yelled, attempting to regain control. It was like his car was resisting his efforts deliberately!

The car's steering wheel jerked out of his hands and sped up, shooting toward a dark-haired girl and a bearded man as they proceeded across the street.

* * *

"How you feelin'?" Faith asked.

"Better. How about you?" Neil replied, as they began crossing the road.

"Five by five." Faith smirked.

"I'm glad. Faith, I need to talk to you abou- LOOK OUT!"

Both Faith and Neil leapt wildly to the side, narrowly avoiding the hurtling automobile. The driver's side window shattered and the driver bailed out, smacking the road hard. He staggered to his feet as the car stopped and spun around, then started running as the empty car _pursued_ him. It slammed into him from behind, breaking his back and driving over his corpse. Pausing, it turned to the astonished and horrified Faith and Neil who were running swiftly towards the scene, and revving its engine, peeled rubber towards them!

Again dodging the rampaging vehicle, Faith and Neil witnessed it try to stop, only for it to slam into a parked gasoline truck at a gas station and explode! The employees and patrons fled as fast as they could as the gas station exploded a few seconds later! The shockwave sent everyone sprawling.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Faith yelled.

Summed up my reaction perfectly. Neil thought.

(Buffy Credits!!! Whoo whoo!!!)


	2. Chapter 1

Buffy glumly walked down the hallway and sighed in irritation. Oz and Willow, coming from the opposite direction, watched her in concern.

"What's up with Buffy?" Willow wondered aloud, frowning.

"Hmm." Oz replied.

"That's all you've got to say? Hmm?" Willow asked, exasperated.

"Pretty much." Oz said.

"Well, that's not enough concern, damnit! I'm going to march over there and find out what's going on!" And with that, Willow stamped over to the depressed Buffy.

"What's wrong with Will?" Xander asked, holding a hand over his eye and magically appearing at Oz's side (well, not really.)

"She's worried about Buffy, and I'm being too stoic. What happened to you?" Oz responded.

"Well, I tried to get a drink from the soda machine, put my money in, pressed my selection, and zip. So I shook it a lot and still nothing, so finally I bent down to that slot where they arrive, you know? And then the can shot out and popped me in the eye, oh and by the way, ow."

"Huh."

"That's all I get, huh? You are too stoic. Maybe someone else can share my pain, but not literally, it hurts like a son of a bitch."

He walked over to Buffy and Willow.

Oz just raised an eyebrow, and noticed Cordelia walking by him, her make-up smeared.

"Cordelia, what happened?"

Turning to face him, she started ranting:

"Every time I tried to apply any make-up my damn car would stop and go suddenly! My make-up was flying everywhere! It was like being pelted with little missiles! And the damn mirrors kept moving! Back and forth and all over the damn place! Just look at me! It's a disaster!"

"Interesting."

Cordelia made an "Oh!!!" noise and stomped over to Xander.

Shrugging, Oz got his books from his locker and walked over to the other Scoobies.

* * *

"Hey Buffy, why did Mr. Sad Face come to visit?"

"Huh?" Buffy asked, and looked up to see Willow standing there.

"Mr. Sad Face. Is this just a brief stop-by, or is he a permanent resident in the mind-house of Buffy?"

Buffy just gave her a look that screamed the word she said earlier.

"She's wondering why you slipped and fell in the dumps. It's smelly and glum down there." Xander translated, walking up to them holding his hand over his eye.

"Oh. I didn't mean to slip, life gave me a banana peel, and down I went wearing no helmet, and are you implying I smell? I shower twice a day thank you very much!"

Xander gulped.

"Xander, why are you holding your hand over your eye like a big dork?" Cordelia asked, coming up to them.

"Because it stings like the dickens!"

"A bee stung you in your eye?! You need to go to the emergency room!" Cordelia cried.

"Not a bee!" Xander yelled in an exasperated tone, "The damn soda machine attacked me! It was like I suddenly walked into Maximum Overdrive!"

"Get the school nurse to look at it, you idiot!" Cordelia snapped.

She snatched the protesting Xander's hand and dragged him off to the nurse's station.

Buffy and Willow just stared after them, dumbfounded, and then Willow turned back to Buffy, giving her the LOOK.

"Okay, okay! Don't give me that look! I'm sad because I couldn't blow off school to go see Neil today." Buffy explained.

"Your mom, huh? All our parents are cracking down on us for spending too much time at "sleepovers" and cutting class. And Neil's being released today."

"WHAT?! When was anyone going to tell me?! What is this, keep secrets from Buffy day?!" She immediately quieted, feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry! W-we didn't mean to make it a secret, to be a conspiracy like in JFK! Bad Willow! Should never keep secrets! Bad!" Willow guiltily scolded-babbled herself.

They both stood there, wallowing in their cesspool of guiltiness, until Oz came along and pulled them out.

"Why so glum chums?" he asked.

"No reason." they both answered in a monotone, and wandered off to class, Oz following.

* * *

"Is it me or does it seem like we just walked into a bad horror flick?" Faith griped.

Neil found it difficult to disagree after being nearly killed by a rampaging car, pursued by an overly aggressive moped, buzzed by a radio-controlled plane, and angrily threatened by an enraged electric can opener(don't ask.)

"Anything like this ever happen in the show?"

"Nuh-uh. This is new."

Faith and Neil watched in disbelief as an annoyed convertible chased a howling dog down the street.

* * *

"What is up with the computers today?!" Snyder growled, "It just told me to "f" myself! The students. It's always those damn students! I'll "f" them!"

Getting on the intercom, he started speaking only to hear peals of laughter from the hallway and realized his voice was coming out all squeaky like he had inhaled too much helium.

"What is going on!?" Snyder raged.

* * *

Willow and the other Scoobies (sans Buffy and Giles) were sitting in computer class when they heard a squeaky voice from the P.A.

"What the-?" Xander began.

Willow's computer suddenly whistled at her. Willow stared at it in puzzlement.

"Hey, my computer suddenly whistled at me! That was kinda rude! Naughty computer!" Willow scolded.

"Hey, don't be that way hot momma!" the computer replied in a synthesized voice.

Willow's eyes almost bugged out.

"I can see down your top!" Cordelia's computer laughed raucously.

"Hey!" Cordelia shrieked.

"Hey!" Xander yelled. "Only I get to look down her top!"

"Shut it bitchy!" Xander's computer snarled and gave him an electric shock.

"OW! Damnit! What is it with me and machines today?!"

"Here's something you don't see every day." Oz observed.

"Duh." Oz's computer commented.

All the computers started flipping out, screaming obscenities and crude sexual comments and zapping people at random.

"Everyone stay calm! It's just a technical problem!" the panicking instructor cried.

"Fuck that! My ass is outta here!!!" one of the students yelled back, and broke for the door. Everyone followed his example.

"Get back here baby butt!" Xander's computer yelled after his fleeing form.

* * *

Buffy and Giles burst through the library doors at hearing all the commotion.

"What the hell?!" Giles exclaimed.

Astonished, they watched a sewing machine calmly roll past them on the level hallway floor, stopped to give them its version of "what the hell you looking at?" and then rolled on down the hallway.

"What the f-" Buffy started.

"BUFFY!" Willow screeched, cutting her off as her friends ran over to her. "THEY'RE ALIVE!"

"IT LOOKED DOWN MY TOP!" Cordelia screamed.

"IT IS LIKE MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!" Xander cried.

"Wild, huh?" Oz commented.

"Hit the pause and mute buttons on the remote please! What are you talking about?" Buffy replied in an exasperated tone.

Before anyone could say anything else, Neil and Faith ran up to them.

"Neil. Hey." Buffy said softly.

"Hi. We might want to dodge to the side." Neil replied.

"Why?" Giles inquired.

"Your car is trying to buttfuck us in a very serious way." Faith answered, gesturing with her thumb over her shoulder.

"Pardon?" Giles said sharply.

Everyone heard the sound of a speeding car and turned toward the school doors to see Giles's Citroen bearing down on them at full speed. It crashed through the doors and kept going, heading for them. They threw themselves to the side crazily through the library doors narrowly avoiding the careening vehicle as it bumped into lockers. Peering out the doors after it, they watched it smash through the doors at the other end and run over a hapless garden gnome as it headed back to the street.

"MY BLOODY CAR!!!" Giles howled in agonized and utter despair.

"I hit my head on the damn library door. Owie. Hello injury 207 of today." Xander moaned.

"Still livin', ain't ya? Suck it up!" Faith snapped.

"I'm only going to ask this once. What the hell is going on?!" Buffy hissed.

"The machines are trying to gleefully murder us all, and possibly each other too." Neil explained.

"Oh…" everyone (except Faith) began.

Only to hear cries of terror from the student lounge.

* * *

Buffy and the others ran into the lounge to witness the vending machines attacking the screaming and running students with snack foods and canned drinks.

"Hey! I owe you! Nobody assaults me with a cold beverage!" Xander yelled at the soda machine, and charged it only to fall on his ass from the impact with the machine. It turned toward him menacingly, only to receive a tackle from the bigger Neil and smash to the ground in a shower of sparks. The snack machines turned on them and began a barrage of potato chips and candy bars.

"Not exactly the most lethal attack ever." Giles said dryly.

Buffy and Faith lashed out and knocked the malevolent snack machines over, short-circuiting them. Everyone ran over to Neil and Xander as Neil pulled Xander to his feet.

"Xander, my god! Are you okay? That was so brave!" Cordelia gushed.

"Also wicked hilarious." Faith smirked.

"We need to get out of here. There's a ton of vehicles in the parking lot." Buffy said.

"Excellent idea. We should head for my flat. I have research materials there." Giles agreed.

"Bulldozer." Oz put in.

"Huh?!" everyone replied.

There was a tremendous crash and everyone turned to see a huge bulldozer crash through the lounge doors leading to the outside and part of the wall as well.

They ran for their lives.


	3. Chapter 2

Angel was enjoying reading one of his old moldy books (well, not moldy) when he heard a piercing scream from outside and the screeching of tires on asphalt. He put his book down, noticed the sun was setting, and took off toward the disturbance. When he got there, he couldn't believe his vampire eyes.

A man and woman and their young son were trapped in a short tree by a car, an _empty_ car. The car backed up and slammed into the tree, then repeated the action over and over. The last impact knocked the boy from the tree. Angel didn't hesitate. As the car swerved and accelerated toward the sobbing child, Angel leapt toward him and snatched him away just in time. Unable to stop, the automobile flew over the edge, hit another tree, and exploded.

As Angel comforted the crying boy, his parents climbed down and rushed to him.

"Oh my god, thank you!" the mother cried.

"Is he okay?" the father asked in a shuddering voice.

"He is." Angel responded, handing him over.

"What is happening?! Our own car attacked us!" the mother asked fearfully.

"I don't know, but we need to get you out of here and off the streets."

And once you're out of harm's way, I need to find Buffy. Angel thought.

* * *

Our heroes were hiding behind a hedge when Neil's personalities popped out of him.

Kneeling down quickly beside them, they looked from person to person (who hadn't noticed they had arrived yet, except Neil of course.)

"So, are we playing hide or seek, or what?" Athena asked stridently, which caused nearly everyone to bound through the hedge.

"Shhhh!" Buffy and the Scoobies whispered urgently at her.

"Sorrrrrryyyy. I'll be as quiet as a mouse. Got some cheese?" Athena replied.

Everyone else swatted at her, and Neil licked her nose. Faith giggled softly.

"So what exactly is occurring?" Diana asked gently.

"S-Somehow the machines have come to homicidal life. I have no idea why. I've been racking my brain for a possible culprit, with no success." Giles explained in a low voice.

"In other words, they're going postal and we're stumped." Buffy translated.

"So we've suddenly walked into Maximum Overdrive?" Athena commented quietly.

"That's exactly what I said!" Xander muttered.

"Please put your extreme geekiness into orbit." Cordelia softly hissed at him.

"Pretty much, hon." Neil said to Athena silently. Buffy frowned at this exchange.

"What about going back to the library?" Helen whispered.

"Out of the question, I'm afraid. A bulldozer came and had a little too much fun at the campus at the expense of the buildings."

"So, to your apartment then?" Lilith remarked inaudibly.

"Precisely."

As they crept along through the foliage, Willow paused and murmured to Buffy: "Isn't your house on this street, Buffy?"

"Oh god." Buffy whispered. "In all the chaos, I nearly forgot. I need to see if Mom and Dawn are okay!"

"No dice." Bellona suddenly said noiselessly. The others followed her gaze.

"Oh shit." Hera growled.

All up and down Buffy's shadowy street, a number of vehicles, headlights blazing, prowled. It would be impossible to travel to Buffy's house or to continue to Giles' home without being noticed.

And one of those vehicles was a Humvee armed with a .50 caliber machine gun.

* * *

From the other side of the street, Angel was surveying the same situation and pondering his next move.

* * *

"How the hell can we get past them all?" Neptune wondered.

"Well," Willow started, "Maybe I can cast a spe-. "

She was interrupted by Athena suddenly scrabbling away further down the bushes, crawling into the adjoining yard, and then running into the street in full view of the menacing vehicles. Everyone looked on in horror.

"What the fuck is she doing?!" Faith almost screamed.

"Athena, have you lost your damn mind?!" Helen hissed at her from their cover.

Everyone else was too astonished to speak or react.

Grinning, Athena shrieked at the various vehicles, which froze and twisted in her direction. The Humvee leveled its weapon at her.

"Ahhh, you wanna shoot little ol' me?" Athena taunted. She bent over and mooned them and patted her ass.

"Well, here's your target!"

Apparently they didn't like being mooned, as they almost growled and then proceeded to charge after her, the Humvee in the lead, opening up with its .50 caliber.

Laughing, Athena ran away and around the street corner, her pursuers in very hot pursuit.

"Come on! We gotta save her!" Faith yelled, getting up, only to be yanked down by Buffy.

"What the fuck you doing, B?!" Faith snarled in Buffy's face.

"If we all chase after her, we'll ruin what she was trying to do!" Buffy snapped at her. "Now, come on!"

"Go ahead, Faith, Neil and I will check on our rather reckless daughter." Diana said softly.

"Go on ahead, everyone, we'll meet you at Buffy's house." Neil said quietly. They all stared at them worriedly, and then nodded. Diana and Neil slipped from their hiding place and ran in Athena's last known direction.

The Scoobs, Faith, and Neil's other personalities moved quickly as possible to 1630 Revello Drive, and a question weighed on the Scoobies and Buffy's and Faith's minds.

**Daughter?!**

* * *

Angel was speechless at what he had just witnessed.

First, a gigantic Amazonian woman had sprinted from a yard across the road and mocked the deadly assortment of vehicles patrolling the lane until they had chased her around the corner, then another Amazonian woman and a red bearded man emerged from the plant cover and hurried in that insane woman's direction.

Then Buffy and her friends and another group of people he vaguely recognized ran across the back yard of the house whose yard that woman had come from.

Angel paused, and then headed after Buffy. He had a feeling those other three people could handle themselves, and he didn't want to distract them at a possibly crucial moment.

After making certain there were no other mechanized menaces about, Angel snuck after them carefully.

* * *

With the aggravated vehicles closing in on her, Athena turned to face them and then leapt atop the Humvee's roof, narrowly evading the constant stream of automatic fire. She reached down and yanked the machine gun from its housing as the Humvee veered wildly left and right trying to throw her off. Cackling gleefully, she sent a burst into each vehicle's engine block and watched as they blew up spectacularly, then somersaulted off the Humvee's top, landed behind it, and as it spun around and launched itself towards her, she gave it a full burst to its engine and it ignited, destroying it.

Smugly, she examined the wreckage resting the trigger end of the machine gun on the ground and commented:

"Well, somebody's gonna be pissed."

"That would be us." said two very familiar voices.

Meekly, she turned and gave Neil and Diana her best innocent expression.

"Don't." Neil began.

"Ever." Diana continued.

"Do that." Neil went on.

"Again." Diana finished.

Athena's only response was to stick her tongue out of the side of her mouth and give a disappointed whimper.

They each took one of her muscular arms and hauled her over to the nearest back yard.

* * *

Joyce Summers stood in her darkened kitchen, fretting about her eldest daughter when she heard a great deal of commotion and then shortly after a series of nearby explosions that shook the windows.

Peering out the window, she noticed that the vehicles outside had gone, and breathed a sign of relief.

And then nearly jumped out of her skin when her youngest screamed down at her:

"Mom! The phone told me to quit talking so damn much!"

"Dawn Summers! What did I tell you about swearing!?"

And then clamped her hand over her mouth, eyes shifting from side to side.

Dawn ran downstairs and squeaked out "Sorry, Mom."

Then they heard a noise at the back door.

* * *

Unlocking the back door with her key, Buffy walked inside to be almost brained by her sauce-pan wielding mother and sister, who fortuitously missed by a mile and fell flat to the floor.

"Don't you check who it is before you try to murder someone!?" Buffy almost screamed. "Jeez!"

"Sorry honey." Joyce apologized, and they embraced.

"I'm not. I would've hit you anyway." Dawn muttered under her breath.

Buffy turned to Dawn, arms outstretched, and Dawn said: "I'm not hugging you! You have sister cooties!"

Buffy scowled at her little sister, and turned back to her mother.

"You two alright aside from the sudden attack of psychosis?" Buffy asked, concerned.

"We're fine Buffy. What is going on? All the machines are going haywire!"

"Don't have the foggiest, and some good thick fog might be real good right about now. Ever wonder who made up the word fog? I mean, did they sit down one day and say-"

"Um, Buffy." Everyone standing outside the back door said uncomfortably.

"Oops! Sorry!" And she waved them in.

Everyone walked inside except Neil's personalities, (who manifest as vampires, of course.)

"Uh, Buffy." Helen said.

"Sorry again!" Buffy said discomfited, "I invite you in!"

They walked in, Zeus closing the door behind them, and Hera muttered "Airhead." to herself.

"So where was everyone when I was almost becoming killed!?" Buffy demanded in a low voice.

"Well, I jumped backwards in sheer terror." Xander explained.

"And I was cringing in the doorway, but in a good supportive way." Willow rambled.

"What!? I didn't want to get whacked with a cast-iron pan! I stepped back!" Cordelia growled.

"When Xander hopped backwards, he collided with me and knocked me to the floor." Faith elaborated. She gave Xander a suggestive wink. "I bet that gave you a naughty thrill."

"I plead the Fifth." Xander replied with a goofy ass grin.

"And when Cordelia stepped back, she stepped on my foot with her high heel, and I was hopping around on one foot all over the porch." Oz said.

"And when Oz started hopping around, he hopped on my bloody foot and I ended up falling over the bloody railing!" Giles grumbled, his tweed obviously rumpled.

"And when Faith and Xander fell back, Faith's head popped me in the groin, which sent me piling into everyone else, plus, you know, barrier. Anyone got an ice pack?" Ares moaned.

"Oh." Buffy said in a small voice. She opened the freezer, took out some ice, took some thick plastic wrap, made an ice pack, and handed it to Ares. He took it gratefully, lowered himself to the floor by the back door, and applied it.

"Ah, sweet relief." Ares sighed.

Buffy turned to her mother and sister, only to see them staring at Neil's male personalities, drooling.

"Not again!" Xander groaned. "I give up!"

He went to the fridge, opened the door, looked inside, and hauled out a pan of brownies. He uncovered them and started munching.

"Running for your life sure works up an appetite." Xander commented.

"Eating that crap will make your teeth fall out." Helen responded.

Xander shrugged, and Helen sighed in annoyance.

"Mom! I know they're pretty." She looked back at them. "Very very pretty…" she said in a dreamy voice, then snapped her head away. "But you've got to snap out of it!" she said, shaking her.

"Whu? Buffy, why are you shaking me?"

"Sorry, Mom. You were out of it for a second, hypnotized by perfect manliness."

"Oh. Who are these enormous people Buffy?"

"You and your mom need to get laid, B." Faith laughed.

Buffy rolled her eyes at her, and Faith shrugged, walked over to Xander and stole one of his brownies.

"You have no class." Cordelia snorted at Faith, wrinkling her nose. Faith's response was to eat the brownie as loudly as possible to annoy Cordelia even more.

Before Buffy could answer her mother's query, Willow tugged at her arm and said, "Aren't you going to snap Dawn out of it?"

"Nah. I like her better quiet. I need to snap a picture of her drooling, though. She'll never live it down. Where's the camera?" Buffy said gleefully.

"Buffy. Really." Joyce scolded.

"Fine. Ruin my fun."

She reached over and pinched Dawn's ear. Dawn yelped.

"OW! What the hell did you that for?" Dawn whined.

"Because I could." Buffy replied smoothly.

"Well, if you're all quite done, I believe we need to move on to more pressing matters. Plus, this kitchen is a little crowded." Giles said in his best annoyed voice, removing his eyeglasses quickly.

Everyone moved into the living room, Giles, Oz, and Ares hobbling along and Xander carrying the pan of brownies (and Faith walking behind him still stealing them).

* * *

Angel watched through the living room window of Buffy's house, waiting until she was alone so he could speak to her in private. He was hiding in the bushes to avoid being seen from the street. Angel was somewhat surprised to see everyone turn back and head into the kitchen.

* * *

There was a loud knock on the back door, and since Dawn was the last to exit the kitchen, she was the first to reach it and open it to see a red-bearded man and a gigantic woman standing there.

"Hi." Dawn said neutrally.

"Hi Dawn." The man said.

"Hey! How did you-"

The man and woman looked behind them and jumped aside just as another amazonian woman came running and jumping into the invitation barrier at breakneck speed and bounced off.

"BUFFY! MOM!" Dawn squealed.

Everyone came running (or hobbling) back in only to see Athena bounce off the barrier again and fall back into the back yard.

Smugly, Buffy said: "I invite you all in."

When Athena ran and bounced forward this time, she flew through the door and fell face-first to the floor. Buffy snickered.

"HFAFFDSGHGFDHDFD!!!" Athena shrieked from the floor (or something like that.) Neil and Diana walked in and shut the door.

Suddenly springing from the floor, Athena said loudly: "It's Joyce and little Dawn!" She swept them up in her powerful arms and skipped over to the refrigerator with her tongue hanging out of the side of her mouth and eyes closed and opened the door with her head and carefully studied the contents, eyes open.

"Cottage cheese, salad, tofu, and fruit!? What the hell is this crap!?" Athena complained. Faith cackled until her sides hurt.

"Put my mother and sister down! Well, my mother anyway." Buffy growled.

"Buffy! Who is this person?" Joyce squeaked.

"She's holding me too tight!" Dawn squealed breathlessly.

"Athena, put the nice people down." Neil's personalities chorused.

"Okay." Athena replied in a sing-song voice, and set Joyce and Dawn down and patted their heads. "Nice Joyce. Nice Dawn. Nice." She said as she patted.

"I think I feel a migraine coming on. Or perhaps a brain tumor. Yes, that would be splendid." Giles said dryly, holding his forehead.

"Gilesy's head hurts?" Athena asked in a goofy voice, spinning her tongue in a circle as she talked.

"Well," Giles said uncertainly, "It's really more of a rhetorical pain…"

Athena gasped overdramatically, stepped over to Giles, tucked him under her arm, and skipped through the doorway leading to the dining room, ducking in the doorway as she did so, humming all the while.

Everyone else looked at each other, shrugged, and then followed.


	4. Chapter 3

Still watching through the window, Angel saw that crazy woman from earlier come skipping in with someone under her arm. As soon as he saw who it was, he stealthily moved out of sight.

* * *

When everyone else entered, they saw Athena sitting on the floor with the flustered Giles, who was receiving a head massage. The two of them were sitting out of easy sight of the windows, especially the main living room one. The others followed suit, sitting or lying on the living room floor.

"What happened to all the lights anyway?" Buffy asked.

"Did you turn them out so you wouldn't be noticed? I saw all the houses were dark." Willow asked.

"Actually, Dawn and I hid in the basement when the machines went berserk, then after what seemed a few hours, all the noise stopped, we snuck back upstairs, and realized the power was off when Dawn flipped a light switch because she said it was too dark." Joyce explained.

"I guess all the machines did the wacky at your school too, huh?" Xander asked Dawn.

"I guess. I was home with a tummy ache. The first clue I had that something was going on was when my stereo screamed at me to quit shaking my skinny behind at it. What do stereos know about good behinds anyway? Skinny's in." Dawn grumbled.

"If you say so." Apollo commented wryly.

Dawn beamed at Apollo because he said something to her, only to be pulled into Athena's lap and get a tummy rub.

Xander gazed longingly at Athena, wishing she would give him a tummy rub, and Cordelia pinched him on the side, causing him to almost yelp before he clamped his hand over his mouth.

"So, what could have caused this Stephen King story that came to life? Anyone?" Buffy asked.

"A demon?" Helen offered.

"Aliens?" Zeus put in.

"Skynet?" Xander threw out. He was the proud recipient of numerous raised eyebrows.

"God?" Athena joked. The others gave her a strange look.

"Neil's dark side, perhaps?" Artemis remarked thoughtfully.

"Not her style." Lilith replied.

Buffy stood up and tiptoed over to the stairs.

"Where you going Buffy?" Willow asked softly.

"To do a number one, can't hold it any longer."

As she skulked up the dim stairway, hearing the whispered conversation below, she sensed a familiar presence nearby.

Angel.

But first she really had to pee.

* * *

Breathing a sigh of relief, she entered her bedroom and saw Angel emerge from the shadows.

"Hey." Buffy said.

"Hey." Angel replied in his quiet voice.

"So…did the happy machines scare you or are you just glad to see me?" Buffy joked lamely.

"Both actually." Angel said dryly.

"Oh."

There was a long silence, filled with unresolved tension.

"Are you okay?" Angel said at last.

"Dandy. Except for the metal murderers patrolling the streets and all the electric devices going haywire. Got any clues?"

"None. I've never encountered anything like this before. No demon I know off has the power to control machinery like this, and certainly not on this scale."

"Great. Every machine in Sunnydale seems to have been affected, and we have zip, zilch, and zero. Actually, we have a Ziploc. An empty Ziploc."

Angel started to reply, when the bedroom door opened.

* * *

As the others discussed the situation, Joyce crawled over and sat beside the embarrassed yet satisfied Giles, still getting his forehead rubbed.

"You know, Mr. Giles, I wanted to tell you about this strange piece of jewelry we had gotten at the gallery."

Giles looked at her, and responded with: "Jewelry?"

"Yes, a gold amulet with a red ruby embedded in the center and strange crimson markings on it. It's the weirdest thing. I was hoping after this was over, you could come to the gallery and tell me more about it."

His eyes had widened through her description, and he quickly turned to the others with a frantic urgency that caught everyone's attention.

"We need to proceed to the art gallery immediately." Giles said worriedly.

* * *

The taken aback Angel and Buffy were frozen as the door seemed to open in slow motion.

Busted. Buffy thought numbly.

The door opened fully, and a somewhat familiar man walked through.

Who is he? I've seen him somewhere before… Angel wondered.

"Neil, what's up?" Buffy said softly, trying to keep the immense relief out of her voice.

"We just had a breakthrough, and Giles sent me up to fetch you because I was the closest to the stairs. Hi Angel, I wondered when you would show up."

"Hi." Angel said guardedly. He had perceived the way Buffy was regarding this stranger.

"I'll leave you two alone." He walked out and closed the door.

* * *

Giles saw Neil descending the stairs, and inquired, "Where's Buffy?"

"Did she fall head-first into the toilet and get stuck and accidentally hit the flush lever in her desperate yet comical struggles?" Athena snickered. Xander, Dawn, and Faith began sniggering.

"Children, please." Diana admonished.

"Not exactly. She needed to find something in her room first." Neil clarified.

The Scoobies, Joyce, and Dawn nodded and turned away, going over possible strategies to get the gallery as quickly and quietly as feasible. Neil's personalities watched him carefully and Neil put his finger over his lips in a shush motion and gestured upward with his eyes. They nodded at him. Faith observed this curiously, and started to converse, but Neil shook his head at her and made the same shush motion. Faith shut her mouth, a little surprised and hurt, but Neil sat beside her and patted her shoulder affectionately, and she relaxed, putting her head against Athena's shoulder, which Athena returned by laying her head on Faith's head.

* * *

"Well, I better get going." Buffy said. "Gotta save the world and all that jazz." She turned away and prepared to go to her bedroom door when she felt Angel's hand grasp her shoulder.

"They're going to your mother's art gallery."

"Uh, why? Strange time to gaze at abstract paintings isn't it?"

"Whatever is causing this is there, a gold amulet with a red ruby and runes."

Once she heard that, she nodded and Angel released her. As she opened the door and stepped through, she turned and looked back at him.

"Will you-"

"I will."

She left, leaving Angel standing alone in the darkness.

* * *

Everyone looked up at Buffy as she descended the stairway.

"Did you find what you needed Buffy?" Giles asked her.

She looked a little confused at first, before saying, "No. It doesn't matter." in a grim and saddened voice.

As she reached the bottom, she had a question of her own: "So, I guess we figured out what was going on?"

"Indeed." Giles replied, "The problem is an amulet, the amulet of Technus. Technus was a powerful sorcerer who despised technology, and he created this amulet to bring machinery and such to malevolent life in an effort to force humanity to revert to the old ways. Before he could utilize it, Council assassins eliminated him and claimed they had destroyed the amulet. They were obviously mistaken."

"But why hasn't it been doing this before now? I mean, it must have been to other places first before it came here." Willow pointed out.

"It needs a huge amount of mystical power, like an active Hellmouth, before it will function."

"How do we stop it?" Bellona asked, getting straight to the point (as usual).

"Smashing the ruby should suffice."

"Then let's go. Why are we just sitting here? Let's do it." Hera said impatiently.

"Quite right." Giles attempted to rise to his feet only to nearly fall down again, Athena catching him in time.

"Are you okay, Giles?" Buffy asked in alarm.

"My foot seems to be a bit more hurt than I thought, it may be best if I linger here, as I will only slow you down."

Buffy gave Neil a worried askance look, which screamed, _Help me!_

"We may need your knowledge Giles, you're the expert here. Bellona, since you're the closest, if you would…" Neil gestured.

Bellona picked up Giles by the scruff of his collar and placed him over her shoulder, to Giles's dismay.

"Artemis and I will stay here to look after Joyce and Dawn." Diana announced.

"Okay. Let's go put a stop to this now. That Techie amulet will be sorry it ever came to **MY** town." Buffy stated in her best determined voice. She marched to the front door, opened it, stomped through, came back in with a humiliated look on her face, shut the door, and snuck to the back door.

Athena made a gun gesture with her right hand, stuck it to her head, made a dubious gunshot noise, and then she and Faith followed after Buffy. The others followed after her and sighed.

* * *

The quiet of the night was broken only by the roar of helicopter blades as Apache attack helicopters patrolled the area around the gallery, and M1A2 Abrams tanks rumbled past, the ground shaking in concert with their passage. Our heroes were peeking at this scene from the mouth of an alley several hundred feet away.

"Gee, could this be the right place?" Xander mumbled.

"Xander. shush!" Willow admonished.

Bellona and Hera gave them a look, and they shut up fast.

"Keep the unnecessary noise to a minimum. The Apaches have microphones that can pick up voices." Bellona growled lowly.

"Sorry." Willow and Xander squeaked.

"Um, Bellona, if you would…?" Giles asked softly. He was facing the wrong way because he was still hanging over Bellona's massive shoulder where she had put him earlier. Bellona took him by his collar and faced him the right way.

"Oh…my." Giles breathed very quietly.

"Time for another distraction?" Athena whispered gleefully.

Xander did his patented double-take at Athena's question.

"Try it and we'll whip your ass!" everyone else hissed fiercely (and quietly).

* * *

Dawn was in the living room painting her nails when she heard a low creak upstairs.

"What was that?!" Dawn asked apprehensively, jumping up.

"I'll check. Stay here." Diana said to Dawn. Artemis and Joyce came out of the dining room in response to Dawn's alarmed tone.

"What is it?" Joyce asked Diana.

"Dawn and I heard a noise upstairs. Artemis, if you could…?"

Artemis nodded and ushered the other woman (and girl) into the dining room as Diana ascended the stairs.

* * *

"What about magic?" Willow whispered.

"The amulet will sense the mystical energies and direct those machines in our direction." Giles explained.

"So, nojo on the mojo and I'm not exactly Wonder Woman in the strength department." Buffy said.

"So what do we do?" Faith said edgily.

Before anyone could reply, they were suddenly framed in the spotlight of a police cruiser. The police car honked loudly, drawing the military vehicles' attention.

"I know what we can do. RUN LIKE HELL!" Apollo cried.

Everybody scattered as the 120mm tank shells and anti-tank rockets flew unerringly in their direction.

* * *

Diana looked warily around the corner, her ethereally green vampire eyes evaluating the corridor with a keen eye. Seeing nothing unusual, she stepped into the hallway.

All the doors were closed, which meant she would have to open each room's door to find the source of the noise.

Of course, it was highly possible that it was the house settling, but this was Sunnydale after all.

She moved toward Dawn's room when she heard the noise again.

It came from Buffy's room.

* * *

Bellona tackled the frozen Willow, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz to the ground, narrowly avoiding the tank shell as it soared toward them. It exploded somewhere behind them. The tank opened fire with its fifty-caliber.

"OW! Get off us, you big amazon!" Cordelia yelled.

"You want to die?" Bellona snarled in Cordelia's face. She shut up fast.

Bellona scooped up all four of them in her massive arms and ran for cover.

"Where's Giles?!" Willow screamed.

"Taryn and Lilith have him!" Bellona answered. She kicked a warehouse door off its hinges and began to charge through when she stiffened.

"What's wrong?!" Xander shouted.

"She's been hit." Oz answered, growing anxiety in his voice.

"Just a scratch." Bellona said soothingly.

"Oh my god…" Willow whispered.

There was blood flowing down Bellona's arms in rivulets.

"Jesus…" Cordelia breathed shallowly.

The huge woman shuffled into the warehouse, sat them down, then sank to one muscled knee, and said, "Run…"

"We're not leaving you here." Willow said firmly.

"You're not strong enough to move me, girl."

"Sure as hell gonna try." Xander replied.

Bellona staggered up, and all four teenagers ran to her and tried to hold her up, but she waved them off. She spat out blood.

"Shit." Cordelia said.

As she limped past, all the Scoobies could see her vast back looked like a vast sea of blood.

Upon witnessing this, they moved to support her again, ignoring her protests.

They moved as quietly as they could out of the warehouse and into another building, unseen.

And just in time.

The warehouse they had just left was obliterated by a salvo of tank shells and rockets.

* * *

Buffy, Neptune, and Helen almost literally ran into Lilith and Taryn and Giles, being carried fireman style over Taryn's shoulders.

"Where's Willow and Xander?! Oz?! Cordelia even?!" Buffy asked desperately.

"The last we saw of them Bellona was tackling them to the ground to avoid a shell, and then we were forced to flee from the cannon fire of an Apache." Giles elucidated.

"Damnit!" Helen swore.

"We need to go look for them!" Buffy shouted.

"What we need to do is destroy that amulet." Lilith replied, "Not go off running half-cocked in the middle of a war zone."

Buffy snorted at her, and turned away, only to feel an iron grip on her wrist. She glared back at Lilith.

"Let. Go." Buffy said, voice low and dangerous.

"Or what, Elizabeth? You'll strike me? Don't be a fool. There is no telling where they are. You can't help them by dying, now can you?"

"S-She's right, Buffy. If we don't destroy that amulet, more people will die." Giles reasoned.

"I DON'T CARE! I'M GOING TO FIND MY FRIENDS!" Buffy screamed in anger. She started trying to yank away from Lilith, only for darkness to intervene.

"Sorry, kid, but we haven't got time for this overemotional bullshit." Helen said. She draped the insensible Buffy over her powerful shoulders, and asked Giles, "Which way?"

Giles was stunned at what had just transpired, but he shook himself and looked around, and said, "This way. I think we're no-"as they emerged from the side street, his voice faltered.

Everyone (except Buffy, of course) saw what Giles saw at the same time.

A pair of semis heading straight for them, from both directions, horns blaring.

* * *

Apollo, Zeus, Ares, and Hera ran down the street, turned a corner, and somehow ended up in front of the art gallery. It appeared to be unguarded.

"Okay, this looks a little too fucking easy." Hera snarled.

They crept toward the building, looking around every few seconds, until they reached the entrance of the building.

"Now what?" Zeus asked. "You know the damn door is probably wired to an alarm, probably bring every damn machine in town on top of us."

Hera unexpectedly ripped the door off its hinges and threw it into the street.

"No power. No alarm. Right" Zeus said, taken off guard.

They slipped inside.

* * *

Faith, Athena, and Neil moved on down the passageway, looking for the amulet.

"Notice anything?" Faith whispered.

"No dice." Athena whispered back.

"Jackpot." Neil suddenly whispered.

Athena and Faith followed his pointing finger to a door with a red glow spilling out from under it.

As they moved toward the door, fanning out, a hand, without warning, clamped down on Faith's shoulder. She spun with a left hook toward the nose of whoever it was, only for the other person to bat it away.

"Easy, cowgirl. I've been hit by you enough for one night." Ares said.

"See anybody else?" Neil asked worriedly.

"No, unfortunately." Apollo answered.

"Let's get this done then." Athena nodded to the door.

Continuing to spread out, Zeus and Athena slowly opened the door.

And there it was.

The amulet of Technus.

Wrapped in an aura of crimson energy, its red ruby and markings glowing and shifting malevolently.

Athena, Zeus, Hera, and Faith jumped the gun, springing towards it.

"Wait! It might have-"Ares, Apollo, and Neil started.

Only for the four of them to bounce off an invisible barrier and fall to the floor.

"Other defenses." Ares, Apollo, and Neil finished in a monotone.

"This shit would have to get more complicated, wouldn't it?" Athena groused from the floor.

"Yep." Everybody else chorused.

* * *

With four huge semi trucks bearing down, they did what was only normal in this situation.

They hopped back into the side street and ran in the other direction like the hounds of hell were nipping at their heels.

The menacing trucks turned after them, but the street was too narrow for them to follow.

Their frustrated horn blasts rang through the night like the sound of wolves howling.

* * *

The door swung open almost lethargically, and after a moment, Diana peeped around the door frame.

She stepped into the room, her probing gaze missing nothing.

Empty, seemingly.

But that noise had come from in here.

As she glanced at the bed, the closet door opened behind her.

And the figure that emerged moved soundlessly toward the amazonian woman.

To be completely astonished when she whirled on him with surprising speed and grabbed him around the throat, lifting him from the floor.

"Hello, Liam."

"Hi." Angel gasped.

"Being a bit raucous up here, aren't we?"

"That sound didn't come from me."

That was when the monster sprang from the shadows.

* * *

"This damn thing's impenetrable! Now what?" Athena growled.

They should know, since they had spent half an hour hammering on it with everything they could find (mainly paintings and sculptures.)

"Damned if I know." Ares shrugged.

A door burst open somewhere in the building and there was the sound of running footsteps before Helen, Neptune, Lilith, Taryn, and the carried Giles and Buffy popped into view.

"Oh my god, you're still alive." Helen breathed in relief.

"So far." Zeus replied, casting a look around.

"Where's Bel? The Scoobies?" Apollo demanded.

"She was saving them from a tank. We lost contact from that point when a gunship attacked." Lilith responded.

The others cursed under their breath.

"Why is the amulet still intact?" Giles inquired.

Faith picked up a vase and chucked it at the talisman. It shattered uselessly on the forcefield.

"I see." Giles said in a small voice.

"Any ideas, Rupert?" Lilith inquired of him.

"W-Well, we will need some things from my flat, but that may prove impossible."

"Quite."

Everyone gazed at the untouchable amulet in mounting annoyance.

"Perhaps we could tr-"Giles began.

"LOOK OUT!" came Buffy's voice.

Everyone dived for cover as a tank shell exploded through the window.

And then another.

All became still.

* * *

Xander poked his head cautiously out the window and looked around.

"Anything?" Willow asked tentatively.

"Ow!" Xander yelled.

"Oh my god! Xander's been shot!" Cordelia screamed.

"Damn splinter! Ow! ow! ow!" Xander whined, shaking his hand.

"You big baby!" Cordelia bitched at him.

"Guys! Focus! We are surrounded by big nasty machines that want to make us greasy spots on the pavement of liffffe!" Willow waved her hands emphatically.

"Teenagers." Bellona grumbled from her spot against the wall as Willow, Xander, and Cordelia argued.

"How you holding up?" Oz asked.

"Not good. Good thing I manifest as a vampire or I would be dead. Hungry, and you're smelling kind of good right now." Bellona said pointedly.

"Okay. Standing over here now." Oz said, backing away and rejoining the others, who had stopped fighting.

"Why is she looking at me like I'm an ordeuve?" Xander asked nervously.

Bellona's face shifted.

"Uh oh." The Scoobies chorused.

* * *

Diana threw Angel to one side and she dodged to the other. As she jumped away, she caught details of their assailant's appearance: a bizarre blob-like being, body continuously shifting and morphing, completely mutable. As she spun to face it, she was reminded of the alien from The Thing, that John Carpenter film she had watched some time ago.

It lunged at her, claws sprouting from it and mouths snapping. The monster seemed to be ignoring Angel and focusing on her for some reason. She blocked its claw attacks and kicked it in its body. It screeched in pain. Despite its protoplasmic nature, it could feel pain at least.

I cannot fight this monstrosity here. Dawn and Joyce are inside the house. I must carry this battle outside, machines or no machines. Diana thought.

Before she could do anything else, Angel suddenly stabbed it from behind with a short sword that he had acquired from somewhere, presumably Buffy's weapon chest, if he had not been carrying it the whole time.

The creature leaped at the ensouled vampire in response, and they both went crashing through the window, Angel losing his sword.

Diana didn't hesitate. She jumped through the broken window after them.

* * *

Rubble shifted and finally fell away as Apollo, Ares, Hera, Helen, Neptune, Athena, Lilith, Taryn, Buffy, Faith, and Zeus emerged from the debris, shoving it away from them. Giles and Neil looked up gratefully.

"That was very thoughtful. It was getting rather difficult to breathe." Giles said thankfully.

"Understatement of the year, G-Man." Faith chuckled.

"Speaking of which,** is** everybody still breathing, relatively speaking for most of us?" Ares asked, looking around.

There were various groaned affirmations. They were all pretty beat up, with various cuts and bruises. Zeus had a nasty gash on his head, and Buffy a serious cut on her arm, but it could have been much worse.

They started at the sound they suddenly heard, that of tank treads approaching. Looking quickly at the direction of the noise, they saw a MBT, apparently the one that had just tried to murder them, approach them, and then back away, its turret pivoting quickly back and forth. It was acting erratically, to say the least.

"What the f-" Buffy began.

"Hey." Faith interrupted. She reached down and plucked something from the ruins that had caught her eye.

The amulet.

It was scorched and warped, to say the least. The ruby was barely shimmering now.

Hera took the damned thing from Faith, dropped it on the ground, and smashed it with her foot.

The tank ceased all movement.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.


	5. Chapter 4

As the battered group walked away from the destroyed gallery, Neil fussing over their wounds, and Neptune carrying the remains of the Technus amulet so it could later be properly disposed of, Buffy suddenly groaned.

"What's wrong Buffy? Your cut hurting?" Neil asked in concern, rushing over to her.

"Huh? No! Well, yeah, but my mother's gallery is screwed! Just look at it! Mom's gonna be super pissed!" She put her face in her hands, and Neil patted her shoulder in sympathy.

"I think she cares more about you than the gallery, Buffy." Giles said gently.

The blonde Slayer looked unconvinced.

"We need to find a bus." Neil announced. Everyone gaped at him disbelievingly.

"Not to be insolent, Neil-Father, but, why exactly?" Athena asked.

"I don't think any of us are in much of a shape to walk to the hospital in the next town. No power, remember?"

They all had a "doh!" look on their dirty faces.

"Let's go find Bel and the others. They've got to be in just as much bad shape as we are."

Nobody needed to express any verbal agreements.

Off they went.

* * *

As Diana landed on the ground, her intent gaze swept the front yard and spotted Angel wrestling with the demonical beast, lying atop him.

Running to the scene, she snatched one of the thing's limbs and flung it away from him. It landed a hundred feet away, stunned.

As she helped Angel up, he asked, "What the hell is that thing?!"

"I have no idea."

Both of them heard the monster give an unearthly scream, and charge towards them. They turned to face it together.

Only for three arrows to appear in its body, causing it to rear up in surprise.

Artemis was standing on the porch, bow in hand, nocking another arrow and taking aim.

It crouched and jumped at Artemis.

"Artemis! Look out!" Diana screamed.

Artemis suddenly reached behind her and threw a bottle with a burning rag inside. The bottle was filled with liquid.

A Molotov cocktail.

The cocktail struck the nightmarish creature and set it ablaze.

It took a long time to die.

* * *

The Greyhound bus pulled up aside an abandoned building, which was across from an obliterated structure.

"They're definitely here?" Buffy asked.

"Oh yeah. Cordelia puts on too much perfume and Xander too much cologne. Phew!" Athena asked, holding her nose.

Everyone got off the bus and went inside the structure and looked around, finally spotting Bellona sitting against the wall, barely conscious.

Neil and his personalities rushed to her side. They started pulling her to her feet.

"Don't need help." Bellona grunted.

"Always gotta be the tough girl, don't you?" Apollo responded.

"Fuck you, pretty boy."

"You wish."

Apollo grinned and hoisted the bigger Bellona on his wide shoulders in a fireman carry and carried her to the exit.

"Willow! Xander! Oz! Cordelia! Anyone?!" Buffy yelled.

The aforementioned foursome appeared like ghosts from the darkness.

"Oh thank heavens!" Giles breathed out, still being carried around by Taryn.

"Where were you guys?!" Buffy demanded.

"Hiding." Xander said bluntly.

"Bellona was looking at us with a bit too much interest." Willow explained.

"Ooookay. Well, all aboard!" Buffy said with mock cheer.

"Next time you people want any help, I'm not answering the damn phone!" Cordelia complained.

"Blah blah blah. Let's split shall we?" Faith said tiredly.

Clambering aboard the bus, they set off to Buffy's house to get the rest of their crew.

Not to mention keep an eye out for any survivors who might need transportation to the emergency room.

"Hey Athena?"

"Yes Faithypoo?"

SLAP!

"FHHGHGFJGHHHGHGJFSG!"

"DON'T EVER PULL THAT SHIT AGAIN!"

"Now that I think about it, WHO THE HELL HIT ME FROM BEHIND!"

"Me."

CRACK!

"OW! DAMNIT!"

"Feel better?"

"NO! WHAT ARE YOU MADE OF, ADAMANTIUM!? I think I broke my damn hand, ow."


	6. Epilogue

Diana, Artemis, and Angel watched their adversary carefully as it crumbled to powder, and then blew away in a stray wind.

Joyce and Dawn came out on the porch, and Angel withdrew into the shadows.

"Is it…dead?" Joyce asked.

"Yes." Diana replied.

Joyce and Dawn looked relieved, and as they went back inside, they all heard Dawn's question: "What was that?"

Angel reemerged, and he and the two women looked at each other.

That was a damn good question.

* * *

The moon shone down over the dark, cursed, town, illuminating a disturbing sight.

The mysterious crystals were now everywhere.

Everywhere Neil had been, that is.

**The End?**

(Roll End Credits Here)


End file.
